Should the class be called “Tactician?”

It sort of seems like some of the confusion/crossed expectations folks are having with this class has to do with what they imagine a “commander” looks like, as opposed to what the class offers. Like people wanting other attributes than Int as a KAS, and people wanting better defenses, are looking for pretty different feat options than the class we are playtesting is going to offer, because this class is a smarty pants class that ends up not really being able to do any of its cool stuff if you don’t have at least a 16 in your INT and isn’t recalling knowledge or doing more with tactics than just having 1 ally attack. You need to be able to affect your whole party with your tactics and have more than 2 of them you ever want to use.

I think calling the class a tactician (since using tactics is the class shtick, not issuing commands, could help bridge player expectations with class offerings. I also think adaptive stratagem might need to be baked into the class from level 1 to help sell the brilliant, prepared martial strategist, which is what the class we have does best.

"Tactician" would imply a more hanging back in a tent somewhere off the battlefield receiving reports. Commander strikes a decent balance.

Or it should be called as Ruler! :P

My issue with commander, is that it is leading a lot of people to want to include the charismatic battle leader into the fold, which this class just doesn’t provide, even if you gave it an option to have CHA as a KAS. It plots over tombs and recalls knowledge as base class features. There is no way to go there with cha and not end up being outclassed by the Thaumaturge.

I don’t see anywhere in the definition “ a person who uses a carefully planned strategy to achieve a specific end” to imply that they cannot be part of the strategy’s implementation.

Pfft, youngins. It should be called Elder Dragon Highlander :P

I see your point with 'Commander' sounding more CHA-based while 'Tactician' can come across more as INT, but I also think 'Commander' sounds both more 'dynamic' and 'exciting'. Especially as "Warlord" and "Marshall" are already taken.

“Commander” to me tells me he’s legally empowered to enforce the UCMJ and owns all the equipment he has to sign down to subordinates.

I agree that Tactician is a better term, and that "Commander" sounds more like a Charisma based class. That said, I'm testing a no-physical, 4 Int, 3 Cha build.

I don't necessarily think that the term Tactician necessarily implies someone sitting back in a tent. *That said*, you actually... don't need to be in your own aura. You could Plant Banner or use a Commander's Steed and give orders from a mile away with the Bullhorn cantrip at 7th level, or something else.